One of the most common questions I get asked as a Women's Health Physiotherapist is by first time pregnant women asking - will my lady bits be the same after giving birth?

Most often the answer to this is YES, the female anatomy, including the pelvic organs and pelvic floor muscles do amazing things! After all your uterus can stretch to the size of a watermelon!! There are however some important symptoms to recognise and treat in order to ensure your pelvic floor muscles and pelvic organs return to normal.

​Rebecca Barr has recently joined our team at Perfect Pelvic Floor as our guest blogger. She has been a Physiotherapist for over 10 years with years of experience in pelvic floor retraining and incontinence. She just recently became a mum and had her baby girl Emmison in June. Here is her beautiful birth story and I just love her beautiful baby girls name.

After seeing those two lines appear, I knew I had to do another test just to make sure. This time the digital pregnancy stick which told me I was 1 - 2 weeks pregnant!

​As a new mum, you generally forget about yourself and look after everyone else. Hands down it's about survival. However, I'm here to remind you the 1st 8 weeks are by far the best time for your body to recover!Research has shown the best recovery gains in your stomach muscle separation and function are within the 1st 8 weeks. Don't freak out, there are very easy and gentle exercises that you can do at home within this time frame, none of which put your pelvic floor muscles at risk.Here's 5 easy things to do.

Some people ask me why should I be doing pelvic floor exercises? Why all the fuss? Why during Pregnancy? Surely I'll be fine.We have been conditioned to think that a little bit of urine leakage in life is normal. It might happen straight after birth, it might happen a few years after birth or it may not happen at all.​​Urinary leakage is common but not normal! Pelvic Floor exercises can help prevent leakage but they do a lot more than just stop urine leaking! And you need to know the facts before you say it's not for me.​

There are many labour positions listed below you can choose from, although you may be limited if you have an epidural. You may not be able to move around or you might have equipment attached to you to monitor your baby.

Being upright allows gravity to help your baby push down onto your cervix to help it dilate. Your Pelvic Floor muscles also assist with guiding your baby into the birth canal so it’s in the best position for delivery.

Do you know you're having a caesarean? or think you might be at risk of needing one? Then these tips are for you. Researching while you're pregnant means you can maximise your recovery.

​So here it is; The quickest and most effective ways to recover from your caesarean. Who doesn't want that? Read these tips to ensure you’re looking after your body after a caesarean so it can heal properly.​​There is a reason why doctors don’t want you lifting anything heavier than your newborn after a caesarean, that’s because you have had major abdominal surgery!

Happy and glowing one minute, ready to rip someone's head off the next, followed by an emotional wreck on the floor crying after that. Sound familiar?There are so many changes in the hormones in your body when you are pregnant, it can leave you feeling like you're going crazy!​These changes are mostly from the increases in your hormones and are happening to create the best environment for your baby to develop and to prepare your body for labour and breastfeeding.The 3 main hormones during pregnancy are:

Red Raspberry Leaf otherwise known as rubus ideaus, has been used since the sixth century for medicinal purposes and since the 1940's for western medical practices as a uterine tonic.

What does it do? The common thought is that Raspberry Leaf in the form of tea or tablets can reduce the labour time for pregnant women. It is a uterine tonic and helps tone the uterus in preparation for labour. It may also help with reducing nausea and morning sickness and can promote better circulation (helping with those puffy ankles). Following birth it can also be used to help the uterus shrink back down, boost your immune system and also assist with milk supply.

​Who doesn’t want to recover from childbirth quickly? Pregnancy and childbirth is hard for your body. Knowing you can exercise your pelvic floor muscles from day 1 is a must! Get them working as soon as possible. However, there is one other thing I highly recommend for all my pregnant clients and that is the SRC Recovery Shorts.Whether you’re having a vaginal delivery or caesarian these shorts are fabulous in giving medical grade compression to your area's that need it the most, either the perineal wound or caesarian wound. This allows you to move around like everything isn't going to fall out, regain your strength and generally recover faster.